Tag: rock

Blood, Sweat + Tears | You’ve Made Me So Very Happy

Blood, Sweat and Tears, a jazz/rock 10-piece band from New York City, has curiously avoided a MotD debut to date — but that ends now! From Rolling Stone‘s 1969 review of Blood, Sweat & Tears’ eponymous second album by John Landau: “… a perfect example of the rock record that ‘tries harder.’ While at some points on the record the basic style of the group resembles rock and roll, more often the listener is being bombarded with non-rock arranging devices, non-rock solos, and non-rock material, all of which tells him that ‘something else’ is going. The obvious response is that we are hearing something new: rock being mixed with jazz, rock being mixed with soul, etc. Ultimately, someone at Columbia will come up with a name for it: ‘jazz-folk-soul-baroque-C&W-latin-show-tune-rock.’ And for once the hyphenated labeling would be appropriate because BS+T play hyphenated music: first they play folk, then they play jazz, then they play latin, etc. Styles exist in tangent on their record, but never merge into one.”

Landau continues his cutting criticisms of the band’s ambitious sound throughout the review. A criticism that can’t be made about the band, however, is that they were following any kind of well-established trend whatsoever. Instead, they seemed to be putting out feelers to see where the edges of stylistic possibility were — an exercise which can easily get awkward, and fast. But the very idea of the musical genre hyphenate was very much in the air during the late 1960s and early 1970s; in addition to jazz musicians adding rock elements to their sound, why shouldn’t a rock group work with some jazz elements? Perhaps further bolstering the band’s experimental nature: during its existence, no fewer than 160 musicians were part of the lineup!

“You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,”written by Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson and Motown head Berry Gordy, was initially released in 1967 by Brenda Holloway. Re-released by BS+T, “it became one of BS+T’s biggest hits, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in April 1969,” (Billboard). “The song was kept from the number 1 spot by ‘Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In’ by The 5th Dimension.” The tune was later covered by Cher, Liza Minnelli, Lou Rawls, Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley Bassey, Gloria Estefan, and many others. After starting in Db major, a brief interlude (1:48-2:08) is in Gb major, followed by a multi-key instrumental journey of a bridge (2:08-2:48) and a return to the chorus (this time in D major). At 3:22, an outro with a much gentler groove and tempo ends the tune in G major.

Vanilla Fudge | You Keep Me Hangin’ On

“Released during the famous ‘summer of love’ in 1967, Vanilla Fudge’s (self-titled) debut offering was undoubtedly one of the more seminal psychedelic albums coming from America during the late sixties,” (ProgArchive). “The heavy, jam-oriented atmosphere … and the group’s original twist on well-known compositions grabbed the attention of fans and critics alike. Consisting solely of cover tunes and a few short interludes thrown in for good measure, Vanilla Fudge did not captivate listeners with original works of their own, but instead showed what they could do within the limits of famous pop songs from years past.

Musically, we’re dealing with psychedelic rock that isn’t too far away from what most bands in the genre were doing in 1966 and 1967. Although sidelong jams and increased experimentation hadn’t yet become the norm, heavy use of the Hammond organ and Beatles-influenced vocal melodies are plentiful here; Vanilla Fudge were also at the forefront of early hard rock, and some of the organ sections here clearly paved the way for heavy acts like Deep Purple and Uriah Heep.”

This live performance of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (1968) may have broken all known records for grandstanding by an entire group: every member of the band is thrashing about as if he’s the lead player. But once you get past the overwrought visuals, this cover of The Supremes’ 1966 single is a quite a new re-interpretation of the original. The tune is largely in E minor, but shifts to the closely related key of C major during the short bridge (1:28 – 1:50) before reverting to the original key.

The original:

To Be With You | Mr. Big

“To Be With You” was the second single released from the American rock band Mr. Big’s 1991 album Lean Into It. AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine dubbed the song a “campfire singalong ballad,” with Billboard’s Larry Flick adding “headbangers get folky on this harmonious strummer.”

The track remained in the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, and is the final track on the album. It begins in E and detours into G at 2:27 for one chorus before returning to E at 2:51.

The Playmates | What is Love?

“The Playmates, an American rock and roll vocal group formed in the late 1950s, gained immense popularity during the rock and roll era,” (OldTimeMusic). The group mixed doo-wop and rock and roll styles at a time when the pop charts were starting to feel the purchasing power of a new teenaged audience. In 1954, the very first tune on the pop charts from the rock genre, Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” set the stage for the genre’s ongoing popularity.

The songwriters of this 1959 release, Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance, also wrote “(Alone) In My Room,” sung by Verdelle Smith, the subject of an earlier post. “What is Love” reached #15 on the US pop charts. During a run time of just over two minutes, the track’s tonality travels up by half-step from F# major up to A major, with the first modulation hitting at only 0:12!

Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!

Booker T. + the M.G.’s | Hang ‘Em High

Booker T. and the M.G.’s arranged songs like mathematicians construct proofs: just enough to get the desired result, and nothing more. As the house band for Stax Records in the 1960s, the group appeared on dozens of hit recordings for acts like Sam and Dave, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, Wilson Picket, and Otis Redding. They also had a number of instrumental hits on their own, including “Green Onions,” “Time is Tight,” a cover of the Rascals’ song “Groovin’,” and “Hang ‘Em High.” Their classic lineup consisted of Booker T. Jones, usually playing the Hammond B-3 and occasionally on piano, drummer Al Jackson, Jr., bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, and guitarist Steve Cropper.

Perhaps the group’s grandest recorded moment came in 1969, when they released the album McLemore Avenue, their reinterpretation of the Beatles’ Abbey Road.

“Hang ‘Em High” (1968) was composed by Dominic Frontiere for the Western of the same name, a vehicle for Clint Eastwood. The first cover of the soundtrack theme was released by Hugo Montenegro; the Booker T. version came out a bit later. Frontiere was responsible for the music for many television shows from the 1960s through the 1980s, such as The Fugitive and The Flying Nun (!). He also composed soundtracks for a number of movies during that period. Just before “Hang ‘Em High”, he wrote the music for the cult classic goth-horror movie Incubus, whose dialog is entirely in Esperanto, and which starred a pre-Star Trek William Shatner.

There are half-steps up at 1:15. 2:11, and 2:39. The tune stays in that key from there on, including during the spartan-even-for-the-MG’s coda that begins at 3:08.

Joe Jackson | Jamie G.

“In 1990, Joe Jackson had just signed a spiffy new deal with Virgin Records after spending 10 years and 11 albums under A&M,” (Popdose). “Many bands use the first album with a new label as an opportunity to make a fresh start and try new things (or, perhaps, sell out) … Jackson, however, had no interest in changing, diminishing returns be damned.”

After his 1982 album Night and Day, featuring the hit “Steppin’ Out,” was certified Gold in the UK, the US, and New Zealand and Platinum in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands, it would likely have been difficult to achieve anything other than “diminishing returns.” But Jackson has seemed most interested in following his own muse rather than sustaining stardom, wrapping insightful and often cutting lyrics in musical styles ranging from edgy pop to jazz-inflected cabaret ballads, from textbook New Wave to uptempo salsa. “In his 1999 memoir A Cure for Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage, Joe Jackson writes approvingly of George Gershwin as a musician who kept one foot in the popular realm and one in the classical realm of music,” (AllMusic). “Like Gershwin, Jackson possesses a restless musical imagination that has found him straddling musical genres unapologetically, disinclined to pick one style and stick to it.”

Although Jackson, a UK native, has often toured with smaller bands — at times even paring the instrumentation down to his trademark piano/bass/drums trio — this larger band format shows the effortless precision that Jackson is known for. The spirited “Jamie G.” features a late unprepared half-step modulation at 2:03.

The Ventures | Theme from “Hawaii 5-0”

Regular contributor JB writes: “This track really ticks all the boxes: A one-hit wonder surf rock band in psychedelic costumes, playing a track with a ladder of ascending mods. All in all, an important historical/cultural artifact. They really should have included this one in the Voyager space probe — it tells alien intelligences all they need to know about life on earth in the ’70s … ” The Ventures’ website proclaims the band “the best selling instrumental rock band in music history.”

The band’s nominal regular rock instrumentation had plenty of orchestral help, including the opening bars’ signature syncopated tympani hits, brass poking out of just about every corner, and a piccolo flourish on the piccardy third D major ending. Starting in C minor, we climb up by half steps, starting at 0:36.

The theme as heard at both the opening and closing of Hawaii 5-0 is somehow even more bombastic. IMDB summarizes the show’s premise: “The investigations of Hawaii Five-0, an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police answerable only to the governor and headed by stalwart Steve McGarrett.” Scoring four Emmy wins out of 23 nominations, the show ran 12 seasons (1968 – 1980). The theme also won TV Land Awards for “TV Theme Song You Want for Your Ringtone” in both 2007 and 2008, and was nominated in 2003 for “Drama Theme Song You Can’t Get Out of Your Head.”

Anastacia | Paid My Dues

“Paid My Dues” is featured on American singer Anastacia’s 2001 album Freak of Nature. Reviewing the album for Slant magazine, critic Sal Cinquemani wrote “her tenacious attitude on songs like “Paid My Dues” and the funky title track carve a unique niche for the singer.”

The track reached the #1 spot on the charts in Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland. It begins in C# minor and modulates up to D minor for the last two times through the chorus at 2:38.

Genesis | Taking It All Too Hard

“Moments of Genesis (1983) are as spooky and arty as those on Abacab — in particular, there’s the tortured howl of ‘Mama,’ uncannily reminiscent of Phil Collins’ Face Value, and the two-part ‘Second Home by the Sea’ — but this eponymous 1983 album is indeed a rebirth, as so many self-titled albums delivered in the thick of a band’s career often are,” (AllMusic).

“Here the art rock functions as coloring to the pop songs, unlike on Abacab and Duke, where the reverse is true. Some of this may be covering their bets — to ensure that the longtime fans didn’t jump ship, they gave them a bit of art — some of it may be that the band just couldn’t leave prog behind, but the end result is the same: as of this record, Genesis was now primarily a pop band. Anybody who paid attention to ‘Misunderstanding’ and ‘No Reply at All’ could tell that this was a good pop band, primarily thanks to the rapidly escalating confidence of Phil Collins, but Genesis illustrates just how good they could be, by balancing such sleek, pulsating pop tunes as ‘That’s All’ with a newfound touch for aching ballads, as on ‘Taking It All Too Hard.’ It has a little bit too much of everything — too much pop, too much art, too much silliness — so it doesn’t pull together, but if taken individually, most of these moments are very strong testaments to the increasing confidence and pop power of the trio, even if it’s not quite what longtime fans might care to hear.” Released as a single during the summer of 1984, the track got stuck at #50 on the pop chart but reached #11 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

“Taking It All Too Hard” starts in E major, with the chorus placed first in the lineup. At 0:36, the verse starts in E minor, but features unprepared shifts to A major via a syncopated kick at 0:51, C major at 1:02, and Ab major at 1:11. The bass line moves down a half step for the next verse. Collins’ vocal delivery on the verses is quieter, almost to the point of sounding like so much interior monologue. But then he shifts to a louder, more agitated sound as the chorus returns at 1:20. The patterns persist throughout.